


i’ve been there before

by state_of_longing



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic, canon? i don’t know her, pennywise is always lurking, reddie are worried parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 15:50:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14500362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/state_of_longing/pseuds/state_of_longing
Summary: prompt fic: 'rain'An icy cold hand suddenly grabbed his heart. It was eerily quiet. Too quiet for their bubbly three-year-old and her rain boots in puddles.‘Where’s Lydia?!’ He shouted over the rain, his eyes desperately searching their driveway.‘What?!’ The smile faded from Richie’s face. Oh god.





	i’ve been there before

**Author's Note:**

> My first Reddie one-shot and my first fic posted online in about 10 years. Please be gentle with me.
> 
> This fic was prompted by @fyeahreddie on tumblr with the word 'rain'

The rain normally bothered Eddie. A lot. He hated how it splashed up the legs of his jeans and how his socks always seemed to get drenched no matter what shoes he was wearing. It made everything an inconvenience but especially on grocery day where he was already struggling to get bags of food into their house.

It didn’t bother him today for some reason. There was a calm, serene feeling that had taken over his mind and he wasn’t entirely sure where it came from. He smiled over at his husband who had bags stacked in his arms and who was also unbothered by the rain fogging up his glasses. They both smirked as they caught sight of the box that contained their daughter’s birthday present.

She was always begging for a Cabbage Patch Doll...

An icy cold hand suddenly grabbed his heart. It was eerily quiet. Too quiet for their bubbly three-year-old and her rain boots in puddles.

‘Where’s Lydia?!’ He shouted over the rain, his eyes desperately searching their driveway.

‘What?!’ The smile faded from Richie’s face. _Oh god._

‘Where’s Lydia?! I don’t remember getting her out of her booster seat!’

The hand tightened even more until Eddie thought his heart would stop altogether. He dropped his grocery bags in a puddle and pushed his wet hair out of his eyes. ‘Oh god, Richie! Fuck I don’t remember...I can’t...’

It was suddenly hard to breathe. The panic was settling in and the fear that washed over his body was gripping and familiar. He had felt like this before...

‘Shit!’ Richie threw his bags back into the car and ran out on to their quiet suburban street. He couldn’t see through the fog of his glasses. The rain just kept getting heavier. ‘I can’t see her!’

Eddie never let their daughter out of his sight. He was always so meticulous with her, always made sure she was out of the car safely and holding his hand before they’d walk inside the house. If he couldn’t do it Richie would be right there with her, swinging her around in the air or blowing raspberries on her cheek. Hell, those two would have been jumping in puddles, trying to get Eddie to join them if they had been paying attention.

Why hadn’t they paid attention?!

‘Richie! Oh god...something isn’t right!’ Eddie stumbled down the driveway to join his husband and he squinted in the rain. At least he didn’t have glasses impeding his vision. Up one end of the street, it was completely quiet, no one venturing outside due to the weather. At the other end though, he could just make out a pink raincoat at least two blocks down...running along the gutter...

Close to the —

‘Richie! The stormwater drain! She’s near the drain!’

Eddie barely got the words out before Richie had taken off in front of him, his long legs helping him fly down the sidewalk. Eddie tried to breathe steadily and remain calm as he caught up. What he lacked in height he made up for with speed and when he reached Richie he could hear him shouting.

‘Lyds! Stop!’ He had ripped his glasses off and was squinting through the raindrops.

They were almost there. She was only a few houses away. She was so close to that drain...

‘Richie! She’s too close —’

‘It’s not going to get her Eds! It won’t fucking get her!’

Eddie couldn’t explain it and he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone just why the storm drain scared him so much. Something in his memories was covered in shadow, as though there was a part of his brain that he could no longer access. He knew something was there, stalking around in the dark but he’d never really seen it.

Richie obviously felt that too. It was why they were both terrified of their child running in the rain, so close to the sewer system, so close to disappearing forever...

Something was trying to make them forget, turn them careless and distract them enough so it could take their child. Something without a face had haunted their nightmares for years.

Eddie was close enough to see Lydia reaching her little hand out, crouching to the ground to get a better look at the water running into the dark pit.

_You’ll float too..._

‘Stop! Please stop!’

‘Lydia! Come here!’

Richie reached her first, grabbing her tiny frame before she could put her hand anywhere near the drain. She screamed in delight, thinking this was the same game she played with daddy all the time. Richie was panting into her shoulder, his eyes wide with fear when Eddie collapsed into them.

She was safe. They got her.

Eddie and Richie wrapped their arms around the most precious thing in their life, clinging tighter as she giggled, completely oblivious to her two fathers and their tears that disappeared into the rain. They moved quickly away from the drain, the water gushing into its cavernous mouth and into the unending black.

For the next week they took turns watching their daughter sleep. Nightmares with monsters who had blank faces were keeping them up anyway. Eddie and Richie watched over her as she slept peacefully and held each other as the rain continued to pour against the window.

By the following week they had forgotten everything. The bad memories once again turning into shadows. The sun came out from behind the clouds. Blissfully unaware but always haunted...

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: Lydia is named after Lydia from Beetlejuice, which was released in 1988!
> 
> Title for this fic is from ‘Break Me’ by DMA’s
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @state-of-longing


End file.
